4

There is a song titled "Oferta de amor" by Ministério Koinonya de Louvor. You will be able to find it easily in Youtube.

The question is about the following part of the song:

Pois pra Te adorar foi que eu nasci
Cumpre em mim o Teu querer

First, how come the words "foi que" appear in this contexts? It just doesn't make sense to me.

Second, regarding "Cumpre em mim o Teu querer", I guess the word "querer", which is an infinitive, should have some special meaning together with the verb "cumpre". But again, it just doesn't make sense.

Please help me understanding this part of the song. (The rest of the song was relatively easy to understand.)

ANeves
  • 7,117
  • 6
  • 29
  • 54
NJS
  • 169
  • 5

2 Answers2

3

"Pois pra (para) te adorar foi que eu nasci." is a somewhat unusual construction. Let's see some similar constructions first:

  • Pois pra te facilitar o trabalho, foi que eu trouxe estes livros.
  • Pois pra te livrar de uma situação embaraçosa, foi que eu menti.

Now let's change the order and make these sentences more idiomatic:

  • Pois foi pra te adorar que eu nasci.
  • Pois foi pra te facilitar o trabalho que eu trouxe estes livros.
  • Pois foi pra te livrar de uma situação embaraçosa que eu menti.

Now, making them simpler:

  • "Pois eu nasci pra te adorar."
  • "Pois eu trouxe estes livros para te facilitar o trabalho."
  • "Pois eu menti para te livrar de uma situação embaraçosa.

They all mean the same, but if you phrase them as in your example, they will be more difficult to understand by a non-native speaker.

Now let's see your second question (next time try to separate them and ask two questions instead of one.)

"Cumpre em mim o teu querer".

  • One of the meanings of cumprir, according to the Priberam is "ser da sua competência".

  • In this sentence,"querer" is a noun, rather than a verb in the infinitive and this explains your confusion. This is rather unusual in the spoken language (and a bit dated in writing) but grammatically correct: "o meu (ato de) cantar", "o teu querer", "o nosso falar". The whole sentence sounds awkward to my ears and seems to mean: "Cumpre a mim realizar o teu desejo", "É de minha competência realizar o que tu queres." These unusual constructions often occur in songs and poems.

Centaurus
  • 24,305
  • 16
  • 73
  • 159
  • "Cumpre a mim realizar o teu desejo" ("cumpre-me a mim..." in Portugal) is fine, but I don't think that's a possible reading of the original sentence. – Jacinto Sep 20 '19 at 06:48
  • @Jacinto The sentence "Cumpre em mim o teu querer" is so unusual in pt-BR that I don't think I would understand it if I heard it from somebody. At the time I answered the question I had no idea this is part of a religious context where someone is addressing God and I thought "o teu querer" was the subject of "cumpre". When I found out it was a religious song, I realized that "cumpre" might be the verb in the imperative form instead of present simple, and"o teu querer" simply the object, which would really change the meaning of the sentence. What do you think? – Centaurus Sep 21 '19 at 20:01
  • I think that's exactly what it is: a variation on the more usual cumpra-se a tua vontade. – Jacinto Sep 22 '19 at 07:08
0

ser que, here, in the past tense, foi que: means: it's that or provides a reason for something.

Pois pra te adorar foi que eu nasci = Well, it's that I was born to adore you. OR: Why I was born was to adore you.

  • Porqué você vai?

  • É que eu vou para me divertir.

It's that I'm going to have a good time.

  • Foi que saí cedo.

  • It's that I left early.

  • Cumpre em mim o teu querer.

[It was that] Your love is fulfilled in me.

This is usage you hear a lot in spoken Portuguese when people are explaining things and it is not usually inverted as in your example. The inversion is poetic.

We use the same thing in English: It's that [whatever the explanation is].

querer is love. In Portuguese, you can use the infinitive form as a noun.

O teu querer simply means: your love.

Lambie
  • 2,682
  • 10
  • 16